Rose stood up from her sewing table chair and emptied the shopping bag onto the table. Josh walked into the room and told Rose that everyone was gone now.
“Okay, that’s good. Now maybe I can get my day back to some kind of normal,” Rose stopped and looked down at her sewing table.
“Are you going to be okay?” Josh asked.
Rose looked up at him, “I’ll be okay, but what is normal now? My uncle might be dead and my grandma might have killed him? How am I supposed to live here knowing that?”
“Well, you don’t know anything for certain. All we know is that a dead body was in your basement,” Josh tried to reassure Rose.
“But I had the dream and all those clues that were given to me,” Rose fiddled with her fabric.
“Rose, If this was your uncle Ralph at least you know where he is now,” Josh walked up to her and put his hand on her back.
“You’re right, I’m putting the cart before the horse. Thank you, and thank you for all your help Josh,” Rose turned and looked Josh in the eyes.
“Is it alright if I leave now?” Josh asked.
“Oh, yes by all means. I took up your whole day,” Rose walked out of the room.
The two of them walked down the stairs and out onto the front porch.
“Thank you for the bed and the sandwich Rose,” Josh said while he walked down the porch steps.
“Oh, you’re welcome. And thank you for taking those canning jars for me.”
“Call me if you need anything else done,” Josh climbed into his truck.
“I will. Thank you again,” Rose waved to him.
Rose stood there on the front porch and watched Josh leave. With her arms crossed, she was trying to decide if she wanted to go into the basement or not. After all, she does still have some clothes in the dryer. She did notice now that everyone is gone and it was quiet, that she feels at peace again.
Rose turned and walked inside the house. She headed towards the basement stairs and stopped. She looked down the steps, took a deep breath, and trotted downstairs. Rose expected to see a big hole down there. They must have covered it up for me. It’s like nothing happened down here at all, she thought as she looked around.
“Even the bookcase is standing back up,” Rose sniffled.
Rose felt a little relieved after not seeing a big hole where the body was. She took the basket that she had on top of the dryer and made sure that no dirt was in it. She took her dry clean clothes out of the dryer and put them in the basket. She closed the dryer door, picked up the basket, looked around, and trotted back up the steps. Rose turned off the light and closed the basement door.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Rose sighed.
She carried her clothes upstairs to her bedroom and put them away. It’s been quite a day for Rose and she was ready to just sit down and relax. She walked downstairs and into the living room. She picked up the television remote and plopped down onto the sofa. Rose brought up the guide and found a chick flick to watch, “Sweet Home Alabama”.
She laid her head left side down on the throw pillow at the end of the sofa and lifted her feet. The movie was a great distraction for her and as she watched it a short while, she drifted off to sleep. A stressful day like today would drain the energy out of anyone.
Please join me again for more of: Rose’s Ghost.